YouTube Partner Program: Instant Approval? – Make Money With Videos

Here’s some real great news for all of you that have videos on YouTube (it was for me until this weekend). The YouTube partner program is now open to everyone*, to monetize videos instantly. You may have heard about this already, but I only found out about this recently via Kim Castleberry’s post. If you are reading this Kim, thanks a bunch!

* Please check availability in your country. While the program is being rolled out, before you get all excited, you may want to see if your country is included in the list to qualify for being a YouTube partner. You may also want to read what type of content you can monetize on YouTube.

What Is The YouTube Partner Program?

Essentially, the partner program is like Google AdSense’s version for videos. As a matter of fact, you do need to have an AdSense account to associate it with YouTube. You can still sign-up for the program even without an AdSense account, however, if you want to get paid, you will need an approved AdSense account.

Is It Worth Being A YouTube Partner?

Just like earning some extra money via Google AdSense, having the possibility of having the same income opportunity from your existing videos, sounds pretty cool to me. Aside from all the benefits of using videos for marketing campaigns, having the possibility of sharing ad revenue with YouTube can go a long way, specially if you have a video that goes viral.

Obviously, there are some drawbacks on monetizing your videos. Ads can be annoying and users may jump on to the next if they feel that they are being bombarded with ads. The good thing about this program is that you can individually choose which videos you would want to monetize. Perhaps, that specific video that you want to attract users to your site, may not be a good candidate. Regardless, it is there for you to decide.

So What Else?

Like Kim, I will just share with you the video that Gideon Shalwick made about this topic. From activating your YouTube partner account to highlighting the pros and cons of the program, it is worthwhile knowing about his thoughts and opinions.

That’s it! Are you a YouTube Partner yet? Do you think that the program could be an interesting form of making additional income? What advantages and disadvantages do you think may derive from being a partner? Share your thoughts.

HI. That’s odd. Did you go to your channel and see the “monetization” tab under settings? I did it this way and approval was done instantly. You don’t even have to have an AdSense account. Perhaps, you have requested directly on your AdSense account and that is the reason why after a month they said you were not eligible. This program was only rolled out on April 12. See http://youtubecreator.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/being-youtube-creator-just-got-even.html. Also, did you verify if your country is included in the list?

That’s not the Partnership Program…that just Monetization of videos. The partnership program monetizes your entire channel and gives you additional customization benefits and top search results. It’s a long and arduous process to become one and you DO have to fill out an application form.

Perhaps the statement “YouTube Partner Program” can be somewhat misleading, however Gideon’s video does explain that you don’t get the full benefits of the “partnership program” per se. On the official YouTube creators blog, this is an excerpt of what they posted (link provided above).

“So starting today, we are updating partner eligibility across 20 countries (listed below) where the YouTube Partner Program has launched. YouTube uploaders in these countries can become YouTube partners by enabling their YouTube accounts, and successfully monetizing at least one of their videos.”

Bottom line is that, it is a positive effect compared to what it was before, and unless you were an approved partner, there was no way you can monetize your videos. Thanks for your input…

I think it’s an interesting concept that YouTube is now implementing. I’ve been on YouTube for a very long time (given, I’ve had a few different accounts), and I’ve never managed to hit the “big time” with the partnership. This isn’t going to have too much of an effect, though. The only real use of it is to monetize yourself, but if you aren’t getting the hundreds of thousands of views like the top-dogs, it’s useless. It’ll equate to two or three dollars per video.

There’s a reason why the partnership program was originally only given to highly visited users – Google could make more money off of it.

Hey! As you’ve mentioned that this YouTube Partnership program was only restricted to most subscribed & highly visited users, is this still a prerequisite to join this this program. Also can a previous Adsense account be used with this program or not? Thanks for sharing valuable information about YouTube Partner Program.

Hi Dennis. There were indeed several restrictions in the past to qualify for partnership. That has now been lifted and anyone can participate in the program. Not all features are as yet available, like branding, but nonetheless, the most important part is monetization 🙂 As for your previous Adsense account, I believe that if it is still active and in good standing order, then YES, you can associate it with your channel. Hope that answers some of your questions.

Hi Joe. Unless you are going to create videos for the sole purpose of “monetization”, I agree that the effort could be not be all that worthwhile. However, just having the possibility of “turning it on” is already good to me, considering that, I did not have this “option” before 🙂 Thanks for stopping by

I just started out with YouTube a few months ago and still don’t have that many subscribers.
I read somewhere that the number of likes, comments and subscribers matter to be eligible for partnership. Has that changed now?

Hi Shamelle. Yep, all that “eligibility” requirement has been cut down to virtually only the type of content published and some countries (being rolled out slowly). Before, you needed certain amount of videos, views, etc. If you have a channel and some videos (does not matter how many), you should be able to activate the partnership program, under > settings > monetization tab. Let me know how it goes.

A person can earn big if they are part of this Youtube partner program, but only if their video/s are a huge hit worldwide. Of course, it is a given that nobody can determine that a certain video would become viral or not, as those who upload their videos in Youtube normally think of only sharing their videos for fun (in my opinion).

I have uploaded some youtube videos in the past and they do get some considerable traffic. I am not a youtube partner yet, although I have an adsense account, but after this post I think I might enroll.
I must say that my main concern is the fact that I myself don’t really like ads showing on youtube videos.. What will my viewers do? I don’t know.

Rude? Absolutely not. On the contrary, thanks for the heads up on both counts 🙂 I would have not noticed it, if it wasn’t for you. Will look into the CommentLuv issue. I know it has been up and down, and Andy is helping me solve the problem. It has to do with cache and memory limit. Thanks for stopping by and all the best

Hi Kostas. Great news indeed and perhaps one day, it could be something that you can explore. Good thing is that it is there for the taking. I wanted it for a long time and now that it is open to everyone, I may just take advantage of it 🙂 We’ll see. Thanks for stopping by

Hi Karen. Indeed, those ads can be annoying, but since you can control them with a simple “on and off button”, I think that it is worth experimenting and see if it will have any negative impact at all. Videos that are more informative in nature, like a tutorial, will probably be OK, and considering that there is also an option for the user to “skip the ad”, it may not be all that annoying, lol. I just activated the program this weekend and already got some few “bucks” from it 🙂 Thinking of doing more videos to spice up my channel 😉 Thanks for stopping by

It was a great move by YouTube but an even bigger one by Google. With the release of Bing’s version of YouTube this does in some ways help Google to retain its users and maintain a profit while retaining its customers (video posters) It will be interesting to see how Bing handles this in the next few months.

Hi Stephanie. I think you can still be proud of yourself, because you know how you made partner. Plus, I believe that there are certain features and benefits of being a real partner, compared to being able to monetize videos. They opening up the program is indeed cool, but I am wondering what the “ulterior” motive is 🙂

Is there a certain number of views a video must have before they will approve it? My account is monetized and I have my AdSense account, but twice now my videos (with no copyrighted content, everything is mine except the music which is royalty-free from iMovie!) have been denied. I am yet to get one video approved. Each of my videos only has about 100 views. Is that the problem?

HI Kt. I don’t think that the number of views is what’s keeping your videos from being denied monetization. I have new videos with less than that and it is being monetized. You will probably have to did a bit deeper.

I’ve yet to find a straight answer on a few things. First, I’m wondering how much money I’d earn per month based on a certain number of total views. I just have no idea. Also, it seems I can’t control what kind of ads will be shown, or if it is the lower third of video ad that one could easily click out of, or the video that plays where one must watch 5 seconds or so first. I really don’t want to pollute my videos unless it’s a significant amount of money. Mine are math videos and I currently have about 650 videos with anywhere from 10K to 15K views overall per week. Any advice?

Hi. You made some real pertinent questions and I am sorry to disappoint you as far as what type of ads or revenue you can expect from running the program. I do know approximately that you receive 60 – 70% revenue from AdSense, but this may not be the case for YT ads. The type of ads are like those that you have mentioned. While they may be a bit annoying, there is always an option for your viewers to skip the ad. I think that the best way is to test it out for some videos and see how they perform. You have a good amount of views and it may just be worthwhile. You should know that you can “individually” pick the videos you want to monetize. This way, it does not have to be all of them at once. test it on different videos on a weekly basis and see if it is something that you think may be worthwhile. Hope this helps